Some Homemade Dog Food Recipes Now have Scientific Approval

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The world’s first scientifically tested homemade dog food recipes are now available to the public. Cal Poly Pomona helped a local California dog food company test the recipes in order to address the need for a scientifically researched, reliable and sustainable option for those clients insisting on making their own food at home.

Dr. Chavez and Brodi, one of the happy, healthy dogs in the groundbreaking Cal Poly Pomona study

These are the first ever large-scale feeding trials conducted exclusively on food formulated for dogs using 100% USDA human grade ingredients at a major university in veterinary nutrition history.

West Hollywood, California (PRWEB)October 28, 2013

Thanks to an innovative research team at Cal Poly Pomona, home-made dog food recipes can now be safe.

A recent study conducted by UC Davis suggested that most homemade dog food recipes might not be nutritionally adequate. Dr. Oscar E. Chavez DVM, a member of the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition and adjunct faculty at Cal Poly Pomona said, "The study outlined the importance of addressing nutritional adequacy for homemade diets. However, the researchers understandably could not fully evaluate nutritional adequacy with feeding trials."

Enter the researchers at Cal Poly Pomona who have been working with these types of diets and dog food recipes for the past two years. "We don't say the diets are 'human-grade' because that really has no scientific meaning. Instead, we focus on the fact that all the ingredients used to make the food are the same you would use in your own kitchen. The ingredients are all human grade and the diet is scientifically balanced for dogs," says Dr. Broc Sandelin, PhD, professor and chair of the Animal and Veterinary Sciences Department. He put his research where his mouth is - literally - by eating the food live on TV for a local news network. He also feeds his own dog, Cooper, the chicken recipe.

Dr. Sandelin heads the research team, and Dr. Allen Pettey PhD (Animal Nutrition) analyzes the results. These are the first ever large-scale feeding trials conducted exclusively on food formulated for dogs using 100% USDA human grade ingredients at a major university in veterinary nutrition history. The trials were conducted over two six months cycles, meaning Cal Poly Pomona has over 12 months of continuous data on these diets.

Fueled by veterinary demand as well as recent concerns surrounding standard commercial diets, Just Food For Dogs LLC (JFFD), the company behind the formulations, launched the home recipe versions of the tested dog food with their Just Do It Yourself (JustDIY) kits of supplement blends. "The advantage of working with real food is that all of the ingredients needed to make our food can be purchased by people at their local grocery store," says Shawn Buckley, JFFD founder, "They just need to purchase our proprietary nutrient blend for each diet to ensure nutritional adequacy."

Dr. Sandelin reminds us that each recipe should be followed closely. "If you follow the instructions, you could have a diet that is as close as possible to the ones we tested here." says Sandelin.

Dr. Chavez always recommends seeing a veterinarian every six months and monitoring for deficiencies with any homemade diet. He notes these recipes are the most scientifically researched dog food recipes available today, which makes them popular among vets who have clients insisting on making their own food.